Classic Mug, 444 ml Coffee Mug

Hiraeth is a beautiful Welsh word with a very sad history. Due to the colonization of places like Wales, Ireland, and Scotland (among many other farther away countries) by the British, their landscapes have changed completely to accommodate colonial needs. On my most recent trip to Killarney National Park, I found myself meditating on this word a lot. So much of Ireland has been stolen from its people. The forests were torn down for lumber and land, the native wolves were slaughtered to protect British herds of nonnative sheep, and her beautiful wildflowers were deemed weeds and torn away to be replaced by British species of plants. While this word is often used more casually to describe a longing for a past time period, or a fictional place from literature or popular media, its roots are much more serious. It is a longing for a place that could have been, but never was. It is a longing from a place that was taken away before we could ever call it home.